Popularise, the start-up that aims to give residents the power to choose the type of development that comes to their neighborhood, is now asking its users what they would like to see at the Walter Reed redevelopment.

The extensive plans for the redevelopment of the medical center off of 16th Street include 3.1 million square feet of development, including 90 townhomes, 1,864 multifamily units and more than 100 homes for homeless veterans. Two teams in contention for the project — Western Development and Walter Reed Associates, made up of The Wilkes Co., Capstone Development and Quadrangle Development — recently dropped out, leaving three teams — Roadside Development, Forest City Washington and Hines Interests LP/Urban Atlantic Joint Venture — to compete for the bid.

Popularise is working with the Forest City team to see what people want in terms of housing and retail at the site. On Monday, the company launched four housing options and four retail options from which users can pick their favorites. Among the housing choices are loft-style apartments, some type of affordable housing (which is required) and LEED-platinum homes. The retail choices include an “eclectic” market, some type of mass market store (Apple is peculiarly pictured as one of the possible options) and a local food purveyor. You can vote here and here.

The three short-listed developers are to respond to the city’s Request For Proposals for the project by July 12th, so it will be interesting to see how the results of the Popularise poll play into that.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/popularise_polls_for_walter_reed_housing_retail_ideas/7286

2 Comments

hoos30 said at 7:28 pm on Monday July 8, 2013:

There’s not going to be an Apple store at WR. Talk about false advertising.

Jay said at 12:01 pm on Wednesday July 10, 2013:

If any of you think that average citizens shall have a say in how WR is developed, please think again. The “commission” in charge regularly invites the public to observe, but no one is allowed to speak. EVER. Plus, Ward 4 DC Councilmember Muriel Bowser has already vetoed several ideas, including a consolidation of two outdated and inadequate WMATA NW bus barns, because she doesn’t “like” the idea. How any one person could have so much unilateral power over a District-wide initiative astonishes me. What is worse, is that no one is storming the John Wilson Building, to demand a say in this. They’re all too busy worrying about persecuting WalMart.

Keep your expectations very low on the Walter Reed revamp. I predict that the entire project will smack of favoratism, combined with a very lengthy construction period, and shall offer very little return for the District, and specifically for upper Ward 4. Be assured that DC taxpayers shall pay for that dearly, regardless.